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How to create your own VPN server

VPN (virtual private network) is a technology which allows you to change your IP while surfing the Internet and in such way hide your identity, access blocked websites and encrypt all of your traffic. Sounds great, right? In this article we will show how OwnVPN helps you to create your own VPN server, and why it is much better than all common shared VPN offers on the market.

A VPN server is just another computer that can be located anywhere in the world. When you surf the Internet with a VPN all of your traffic goes to the VPN first and then forwarded to its destination. The response is also firstly received by the VPN and then forwarded back to you. So, VPN just relays all the information it receives back and forth between you and the Internet. Thus, the destination server has no idea who you are and where you are. It's that simple!

Additionally, all communication between you and your VPN is encrypted with military-grade encryption algorithms (at OwnVPN we use AES-256), so the data can't be read by any third-party and can't be compromised.

The vast majority of VPN offers you can find on the Internet are shared, even those with dedicated IPs. OwnVPN.io provides you with a private personal VPN server. The differences are very significant, so let's organize them in a table.

Shared VPN

OwnVPN.io

How many people are using the same VPN server

Dozens or hundreds of people are using the same one VPN server, that's why it is called shared.

Only you have access to your server.

IP addresses

Only one or a few IP addresses used by all clients at the same time. Very easy to identify and block, most shared VPN IPs are well known and listed in related data bases. IPs are not persistent and can change quite often, making it impossible to use them within firewalls or web services for authentication or access restrictions.

Static persistent dedicated IP address allocated solely for you. Not known and not listed in any data bases, difficult to identify and block. The IP never changes until you re-create the server and can be used withing firewall or any other software configurations.

Connection speed

All clients of the server share the same internet connection. When someone starts using torrents or streaming videos everybody else has to experience a dramatic bandwidth degradation.

Your personal VPN server has a dedicated 1-gigabit connection allocated solely for you. Moreover, the server compresses the traffic going between you and your server, reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred and therefore increasing the speed.

Security

Despite most VPN providers use strong encryption, at the same time they use very simple (sometimes even publicly known) pre-shared key for L2TP/IPsec VPN and pre-generated OpenVPN certificates. It makes compromising encrypted connection much easier and as all clients share the same credentials, it is enough to hack only one of them to compromise everybody.

OwnVPN generates unique random and strong keys and certificates for every server. It is practically impossible to compromise your connection, while it is completely isolated and independent from other clients.

Convinience

Most VPN providers encourage you to install some special branded software.

OwnVPN servers are natively supported by most devices and operating systems without any additional software. Apple devices can be configured in one click with automatic configuration profiles. Use your VPN anywhere with any device (including routers).

OwnVPN.io makes private VPN servers available for everyone without the need for special technical knowledge. Just select one of 5 available locations and your personal VPN will be ready in about 3 minutes.

Your server will support two VPN types - L2TP/IPsec and OpenVPN. The first one is natively supported by most devices and operating systems (including routers), you just need to do a simple configuration on your device with our detailed manuals, for Apple devices we also provide one-click automatic configuration profiles.

The second VPN type is even easier to setup as all settings are bundled in just a single file, however, OpenVPN requires installing additional software, but free clients are available for all platforms including Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS.